Editorial

Old-hand foreign policy watchers must have rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they awoke on Thursday to read that Taiwan was to set up a trade office in Guyana.

Confronted with one of his own legal opinions – one that inconveniently contradicted his current stance – the nineteenth century jurist Baron Bramwell cleverly replied: “The matter does not appear to me now as it appears to have appeared to me then.”

President Irfaan Ali hosted the traditional annual media brunch at State House on Sunday, telling the assembled journalists that he was “open to constructive criticism”, to ideas, and the “sharing of responsibilities for the development and advancement of our country.”

It probably looks good on paper, but the Government of Guyana’s $25,000 COVID-19 relief and household support grant, much like its handling of the transmission of the infection and other aspects of the pandemic to date, is far from even handed and shamefully steeped in politics.

On Saturday last, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) issued a statement on its ongoing imbroglio with the media with regard to restricted access to the Guyana National Stadium, Providence for reporting on the conditions at the facility.

In more ways than one the advent of the COVID-19 global pandemic has caused the world to ‘stand still,’ awakening the human community to its collective frailties, not least, what now appears to be a dismantling of that ‘one world to share’ chimera which, over time, and influenced by the Charter of the UN,   we may have deluded ourselves into thinking of as a reality.

On Friday, ExxonMobil issued a terse statement on its offshore  oil extraction operations notifying that it had had to resume gas flaring above pilot levels because of a defective seal.

It will soon be six months since the PPP/C government has been in office, a period etched deeply by the unrelenting march of the COVID-19 pandemic and a country trying to come to terms with its oil future.

When major online platforms restricted trades in certain stocks earlier this week, apparently to ease the pain of hedge funds with costly “short” positions, thousands of investors concluded that the fix was in.

No one could accuse Minister Zulfikar Mustapha of being altogether clear in his mode of operating.

The data on child abuse recently released by the Childcare and Protection Agency revealed that for last year, 3,129 reports were made.

On 14th September 2020, Cricket West Indies (CWI) issued a press release stating that it had approved the timelines for consultation and the implementation of the Wehby Report (Wehby Report – SN editorial 12th August 2020), following the presentation of a paper titled “Governance Reform Report – Next Steps” by CWI President Ricky Skerritt.

The 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2021 as the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, (IYFV) the primary purpose being to raise awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption.

We unreservedly condemn the seizure of two fishing boats in Guyana’s waters on Thursday by the Venezuelan navy and call for their immediate release.

In the year since oil production began, Guyana has earned around US$185m and this sum has been parked in the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

The melodramatic, self-defeating end of the Trump presidency has energized Democrats and gifted them the power to lead the United States in a different direction.

There are some things which defy belief.  There is the former Minister of Public Works David Patterson initially denying that he received presents of jewellery from the Demerara Harbour Bridge and the Asphalt plant during his period in office, although as we reported yesterday a preliminary review of other agencies falling under his ministry reveals numerous purchases both for him and then junior minister Annette Ferguson.

Between Sunday and Monday this week, Guatemalan authorities repelled some 7,000 Central American migrants, most of whom are said to be Honduran.

The storming of the Capitol in Washington DC, on January 6th, by a cult-like deranged mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters, while the rest of the world looked on in utter shock and complete disbelief, no doubt caused all Guyanese to recall the extended spate of confusion following our March 2020 general elections.

There is a deeper significance to what the former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Dr.